CAIRO (AP) — Egypt’s ousted Islamist president, Mohammed Morsi, was convicted of using force against protesters and sentenced to 20 years in prison on Tuesday, the first verdict against him since he was removed by the military nearly two years ago.

The case was the latest in a series of mass trials on a range of charges against Morsi and other members of his Muslim Brotherhood, which Egypt’s government has vowed to crush, branding it a terrorist organization. Amnesty International denounced Morsi’s trial as a “sham” — as rights groups have called many of the trials over the past two years.

The Brotherhood went from decades as an underground organization to vault to power after Egypt’s 2011 popular uprising toppled longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak. The Brotherhood was the biggest winner in subsequent parliament elections, and Morsi — running as its candidate — became Egypt’s first freely elected president in 2012.

But a year later, millions protested against Morsi’s divisive rule, and then-army chief Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi led the military’s July 2013 removal of Morsi. Since then, a fierce crackdown has shattered the Brotherhood, killing hundreds of its supporters protesting for Morsi’s return and arresting thousands more.

The verdict also sparked no immediate street protests, reflecting the crackdown’s impact on any show of dissent — either by Islamists or other activists.

Most of the Brotherhood’s top leadership already have received heavy prison sentences in other trials, as well as hundreds of death sentences laid down for senior figures and lower level supporters over acts of violence carried out during protests against Morsi’s ouster. The Brotherhood’s top leader, Mohammed Badie, has received several death sentences in multiple cases — though they are subject to appeal. He appeared in court recently in the red jumpsuit worn by Egyptian prisoners on death row.

At the same time, Mubarak and members of his inner circle have largely been acquitted of charges related to the killing of protesters during the uprising against his rule. Charges against Mubarak over the killings were dropped earlier this year.

Political science professor Hassan Nafaa said average Egyptians have seen the differences between the trials of Morsi and Mubarak.

“People are not reassured of the fairness of these trials,” Nafaa said.

The U.S. government also expressed reservations about the Morsi verdict, but State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said the Obama administration would withhold judgment for now.

“We are concerned by these sentences. All Egyptians, regardless of political affiliation, are entitled to equal and fair treatment before the law, including the full respect for their rights to due process,” Harf said. “We will review the basis of the verdict which I understand the Egyptian court will make public soon. I don’t think we’ll have much more announcements to do before a review of the basis of that verdict.”

The government accuses the Brotherhood of fueling violence in the country and has rejected accusations that the judiciary is politicized.

The Brotherhood denies any involvement in violence. But there are fears that in the face of violence a younger generation of Islamists is turning to militancy. Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula is the scene of a months-old insurgency by militants who have pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group, and there have been frequent low-level but often deadly bombings targeting police and the military in Cairo.

Besides Tuesday’s case, Morsi is facing four other trials in which he is could face the death penalty if convicted, on charges including orchestrating a prison break and undermining national security by conspiring with foreign groups.

In Tuesday’s verdict, Morsi avoided the death penalty when the judge dropped murder charges in the trial. The verdict can be appealed.

The trial was in connection to violence that erupted during Morsi’s presidency in December 2012. Morsi’s supporters attacked crowds protesting outside the presidential palace demanding that Morsi call off a referendum on an Islamist-drafted constitution. In more than 15 hours of clashes, at least 10 people were killed.

The violence fueled public animosity against Morsi, particularly because of images of bearded Islamists swinging clubs and firing rifles and chanting “God is great” as they descended on the protesters’ tent camp.

Morsi was convicted on charges of carrying out a “show of force” — a charge similar to intimidation or thuggery — as well as illegal detention. The latter charge came because the Islamists who attacked the protesters held some in makeshift prisons at the site and beat them.

While Judge Ahmed Youssef read his verdict Tuesday, Morsi and other defendants in the case — mostly Brotherhood leaders — stood in a soundproof glass cage inside a makeshift courtroom at Egypt’s national police academy. Seven of the accused were tried in absentia.

In addition to Morsi, 12 Brotherhood leaders and Islamist supporters, including senior figures Mohammed el-Beltagy and Essam el-Erian, were sentenced to 20 years in prison.

The head of Morsi’s defense team, Mohammed el-Damaty, said the sentence is “way too much” for a “show of force” charge. He said the judiciary is trying to settle scores because of the numerous political clashes between Morsi and the judiciary during his presidency.

“They are taking revenge now, that is all,” el-Damaty said. “Look at the judges’ and state prosecutors’ narrative and you will see them using terms like ‘the deviant group’ … That speaks volumes about prejudices.”

Trial process was flawed and the evidence was “at best flimsy,” Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Amnesty’s deputy Middle East and North Africa director, said in a statement.

Morsi’s questioning took place without his lawyers present during his detention in an undisclosed location for four months following his ouster.

Amnesty said Morsi’s legal team was only able to access case files days before the trial began. It also documented irregularities, nothing that abuses by his supporters — not his opponents — were the only evidence documented. The court also ignored what Amnesty said were deaths among Morsi’s supporters during the same protests.

During Tuesday’s session, Morsi and the rest of the defendants in white jumpsuits raised the four-finger sign symbolizing the sit-in at the Rabaah al-Adawiya mosque, where hundreds were killed when security forces violently dispersed the sprawling sit-in by Morsi’s supporters on Aug. 14, 2013. They also smiled for cameras filming the hearing.

It was a far cry from when the trial first began, when Morsi repeatedly shouted, “I am the president of the republic!”

From his exile in Turkey, top Muslim Brotherhood figure Amr Darrag called the ruling “a sad and terrible day in Egyptian history.”

“They want to pass a life sentence for democracy in Egypt,” Darrag said.

CAIRO, Dec 22 (Reuters) – Three leading Egyptian activists were sentenced to three years in prison each on Sunday in a case brought over their role in recent protests, escalating a crackdown on dissent by the army-backed government.

Ahmed Maher, Ahmed Douma and Mohamed Adel are symbols of the protest movement that ignited the historic 2011 uprising against President Hosni Mubarak. Each one was also fined 50,000 Egyptian pounds ($7,200) by the court.

As the verdict was read, the courtroom erupted in chants of: “Down, down with military rule! We are in a state, not in a military camp!” The case stems from protests called in defiance of a law passed by the army-backed government in November that severely restricts the right to assembly.

Activists say the army-backed authorities, already pressing a fierce crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood movement of former President Mohamed Mursi, have in recent weeks started to target members of the secular activist movement.

That movement harnessed social media to touch off street protests unprecedented in Mubarak’s 30-year rule. The veteran autocrat mostly stifled protests using a powerful security apparatus that has reasserted itself since Mursi’s removal.

“It’s very significant, it’s not the first time we’ve seen Douma arrested and facing trial … But we haven’t see high profile activists actually sentenced to such a lengthy sentence,” said Heba Morayef, Egypt director with Human Rights Watch.

The session, held at a police facility near a prison on the outskirts of Cairo, was attended by European diplomats.

The army deposed Mursi on July 3 after mass protests against his rule. Since then, the security forces have killed hundreds of his supporters and arrested thousands more.

In the past week, the office of the public prosecutor has ordered Mursi and other leading Islamists to stand trial in two separate cases on charges that include terrorism and conspiring with foreigners against Egypt.

The case against the activists relates to a protest that erupted outside the court where Maher turned himself into the authorities on Nov. 30, heeding a warrant for his arrest on accusations he organised a previous protest without permission.

Egyptian government officials frantically called on designers and engineers last week to quickly build a monument in the square commemorating the “martyrs” who died in Egypt’s 2011 revolution and this year’s military-led uprising that ousted Mohamed Morsi, Egypt’s controversial Islamist president.

What was once the most iconic symbol of popular dissent — a square littered with revolutionary banners and dangling strings where effigies of Mubarak once hung — is now covered in lush green grass and decorative plantings. In the middle of the square is a newly erected stone memorial where a series of steps lead to a podium.

But the monument has been met with disappointment and anger.

“If you want to commemorate the martyrs, at least get rid of the people who killed them,” Alfred Raouf, an engineer and political activist who took part in the 2011 revolution, told The Huffington Post. Raouf added that revolutionary youth were not invited to take part in the monument’s creation. “It’s going to be the Ministry of Interior commemorating the people they killed.”

The monument was built just in time for Tuesday’s anniversary of the clashes on Mohamed Mahmoud, the street where some 40 protesters were killed by police forces during 2011 demonstrations against government brutality. Three more died one year later in clashes on the anniversary. Cairo is now bracing for what could be another bloody anniversary, as opposing groups are set to rally on Tuesday. Anger also surrounds the Muslim Brotherhood’s decision to protest on the anniversary of Mohamed Mahmoud, since protesters say the Islamist group’s leaders failed to support them in 2011.

On Monday, Prime Minister Hazem al-Beblawy laid the foundation stone of the memorial in a ceremony attended by government and political figures. All streets surrounding Tahrir were blocked off by security forces.

Egyptian blogger Zeinobia slammed the memorial as a “cruel irony,” writing that the government was merely trying to whitewash its own deadly actions. “Honestly I feel that the police, army and government fear Mohamed Mahmoud anniversary and what may happen then,” she wrote on her blog. “They do not want anyone to touch Tahrir Square.”

Tahrir’s new memorial isn’t the first controversial monument to be built recently. Rabaa al-Adawiya Mosque, the site of the mass sit-in where over 600 pro-Morsi protesters were killed by security forces in August, now has a huge, abstract sculpture representing the arms of the military and the police protecting an orb — the Egyptian people. While the monument drew some criticism, Tahrir’s shocking makeover takes the cake.

“I think the construction of such a memorial [should come] when a process of transitional justice, and at least accountability for the crimes of the past three years, is underway,” said Dr. H.A. Hellyer, a nonresident fellow at the Brookings Institution in D.C. and an associate fellow at London’s Royal United Services Institute. “So far, that’s not remotely on the horizon — and the memorial is going to be perceived as a symbolic way of turning the page, but with the wounds very much still open.”

Olfat Mohamed, the mother of one of the protesters killed during the 18-day uprising in 2011, told Egyptian news site Mada Masr that while she hopes tourists who see the monument will remember her son and what he died for, she feels the government has largely forgotten him. Many Egyptians share her sentiment.

Interior Ministry Spokesman Hani Abdel Latif offered the ministry’s condolences to the “martyrs of the revolution” during a televised address on Sunday, but he warned that violence on Tuesday would not be tolerated.

“Tahrir Square right now belongs to the military riding on a wave of hyper-nationalism,” said Ahmed Ghanem, a writer and political activist. “But if I learned anything from the past few years, it’s that if they don’t correct their path, Tahrir will be filled with angry Egyptians again in no time, and the current overlord might become Morsi 2.0.”